Athletes Who Give Themselves Nicknames

Nicknames come from the media, from fans, from coaches, from teammates. They are earned. They are dreamed up and granted to show respect, endearment, awe.

Not every athlete gets one. And many get ones that they don't like. So some break the sacred code of cool and [gasp!] self-bestow.

Is this not one of the lamest things an athlete can do? It is. And some get eviscerated for doing it. Their self-chosen pet names are mocked, then stripped away, then forgotten altogether.

But others get away with it. Either because they oh-so-stealthily slip the name out there and hope people won't notice its origins, or because the name is just so damn good we fans can't resist using it, or because they are Shaq.

Trent Williams

But hell, Williams told Commissioner Roger Goodell that he could use the moniker when he called his name at the NFL draft. Goodell surprised Williams and really used it. That was the cement that locked this name down.

Word has it that Williams is truly infatuated with his primate moniker. Among his most prized possessions is a necklace that costs about as much as a quarter of the budget of the original King Kong.

David King

Fly or fail? Fly. Apparently he has the physique to back up the nickname. According to his roommate, “If you ever see David you're not really mad (that he gave himself his own nickname) because David always looks like he just worked out. It doesn't matter what time of year or what time of the morning.”

Rod Smart

Fly or fail? Like Icarus, this name flew so well that it failed. See, the nickname came about after Smart had the words stitched on his XFL jersey. The name caught on so fast and so furiously that everyone knew of He Hate Me, yet not so many knew of Rod Smart. In other words, people like the idea of the name more than they cared about the player who bore it.

Terrell Owens and Chad Johnson

Because: They were washed up NFL superheroes with a lot of money but without any real powers?

Fly or fail? Never had any chance this would get off the ground. Now if they had gone with Paris and Nicole, or Kourtney and Khloe, or Zsa Zsa and Eva, something along those lines, the handle might have really soared.

Thales Leites

Because: He's a fierce warrior who took on a supposedly superior foe and won? Well, yeah, that happened-ish a couple of times. But mostly he just thought the movie was pretty slick.

Fly or fail? Fail. Name never really caught on. Probably because that nickname is so tediously overused. Jeez with creativity like that Leites probably named his dog Fido, his cat Tiger, and his goldfish Goldy.

Asante Samuel

Because: In his own words, "I'm swag 100% of the time. In order to have swag, you have to be balling —doing your thing and making game-changing plays, like I've been doing."

Fly or fail? Fail. Sorry for that, Samuel. It just doesn't roll off the tongue. Plus, the whole swag thing has run its course and then some. The cyber-space vibe regarding swag is "Something We've All Gotten tired of hearing."

Thomas Henderson

Henderson gave himself the nickname his rookie year with the Cowboys. Since then, he has lived many of the famous cliché's associated with the famous denizens of his geographical namesake: rise to fame, fall in disgrace, drug abuse, prison stint, rehab. And even a Hollywood ending: in 2000, long after his NFL career had ended, he hit the lottery jackpot.

Fly or fail? Well if the name failed at first, it has certainly grown some wings by now.

Demaryius Thomas and Eric Decker

USA TODAY Sports

Nickname: Black And Decker

Because: Thomas is black. Decker is white. Oh, and for the endless supply of power tool jokes ("It’s also helped that wherever Manning seems to throw it, Black and Decker find the tools to pull it in." - Rick Reilly). Brace yourselves. The yuks have only just begun.